The Elite will defend the AEW Trios titles for the first time on Friday’s Rampage.
Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks will put the titles on the line against The Firm’s Ethan Page, Matt Hardy & Isiah Kassidy following a backstage segment of sorts on Wednesday’s Dynamite:
This will be The Elite’s first defense, and first match, since besting Death Triangle in the finale of their best-of-seven series on January 11th.
The show will also see Shane Strickland in action against Brian Pillman Jr. Strickland will be looking for his fifth straight singles win while Pillman Jr. will attempt to snap a three-match win streak.
Ahead of his match next Wednesday against Bryan Danielson, Rush will take on Christopher Daniels for the first time ever in a battle of former ROH Champions.
The newly-turned heel tag team of Saraya & Toni Storm will be in action against opponents to be named. The two attacked Britt Baker backstage on Wednesday.
Here’s the current lineup that is being taped after Wednesday’s Dynamite in Dayton, Ohio:
AEW Trios Champions The Elite defend against The Firm
This is a free show. Just click the link at the bottom of the post to listen.
When he was released by WWE near the end of 2021, Swerve Strickland had a lot of options in wrestling — especially given the true independent contractor status most non-WWE talents have now.
But he didn’t want to just limit himself to what you see in the ring as his interests are much broader like music, acting and podcasting.
On this new edition of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out, learn all about who I feel is pro wrestling’s next breakout star in a 40+ minute interview.
Here’s some of what we talked about:
What drove his decision to sign with AEW vs. other promotions that came calling
How he chooses what outside promotions to work with
What inspires his character from look to attitude to his promos
His AEW Rampage match with fellow Pacific Northwest wrestler Darby Allin
That Will Ospreay tweet that got people talking
The impending short horror film he recently shot scenes for and touring this summer to support his music
Click below to listen for free or search for ‘Wrestling Observer’ wherever you listen to your podcasts to get our free feed.
Strickland inked his AEW contract on tonight’s Revolution pay-per-view, and his signing to a full-time deal was confirmed by AEW president Tony Khan on Twitter.
Strickland’s signing comes after a report last month that the former NXT North American Champion was coming into the company.
AEW commentator Tony Schiavone introduced Strickland at Revolution, making reference to their time together in MLW, where Strickland held that promotion’s World title.
Strickland signed with WWE in April 2019. He wrestled on the NXT brand, where he ultimately won the North American title in June 2021 as part of the Hit Row stable. Hit Row was drafted to SmackDown in the 2021 WWE Draft.
The Hit Row duo of Strickland and Top Dolla had one match on SmackDown in October 2021, before both were part of WWE’s mass releases in November 2021.
Strickland has worked one match each for NJPW, PROGRESS, Terminus, and Defy since his WWE release.
Ring of Honor has announced TV tapings in Philadelphia next month and a new match for Supercard of Honor XV.
The company revealed today that Shane ‘Swerve’ Strickland will make his promotional debut April 1 at Supercard of Honor, facing Alex Zayne on the show. Strickland will wrestle under the name SW3RVE The Realest in ROH.
Thank you for joining our Facebook LIVE honor nation! Stay tuned for more announcements 👀 pic.twitter.com/UCrgflKlKm
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 2, 2022
During today’s ROH Live Chat on Facebook, Ian Riccaboni also revealed that ROH will return to Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena on April 10 for a set of television tapings. He also noted that they will be unveiling a new logo and a new set design.
Additonally, Riccaboni said that company officials are negotiating with an “ROH favorite” to face the winner of the Jonathan Gresham vs. Bandido match at Supercard of Honor.
GCW’s Ninja Mack and Joe Hendry were also confirmed for the show.
Our own Denise Salcedo was announced as a special host and backstage interviewer for Supercard of Honor. She joined Riccaboni in the live chat and teased that there will be an announcement regarding the ROH Women’s World Championship soon. Deonna Purrazzo has been defending the title in Impact Wrestling since defeating Rok-C on an episode of Impact Wrestling that aired on January 13.
ROH Supercard of Honor XV takes place Friday April 1 from the Curtis Culwell Center in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX. The updated lineup for the show is below:
Jonathan Gresham vs. Bandido in a Winner Takes All match to determine the undisputed ROH World Champion.
ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes (Mark & Jay Briscoe) vs. TBA
AEW’s free agent signing frenzy will continue as Fightful reported Wednesday that former WWE NXT North American Champion Shane “Swerve” Strickland is going to ink a deal that begins next month.
In last week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that Strickland, fka Isaiah “Swerve” Scott in NXT, was expected to sign but wasn’t definitive it would happen.
In the Fightful report, it said the deal was expected since January and that it goes into effect the first week of March — the same week as their Revolution pay-per-view.
The report also noted there is talk Strickland is seen as a potential crossover star and that AEW was immediately interested when he got released by WWE after more than two years in the system.
Strickland and the rest of Hit Row (Top Dolla, B-Fab and Ashante “Thee” Adonis) were a surprising part of two rounds of November 2021 releases less than six weeks after they were called up to the main roster as part of the WWE Draft.
After the faction formed in NXT and became a top act, Strickland defeated Bronson Reed (JONAH) for the North American title, holding it for over 100 days before losing it to Carmelo Hayes.
Strickland has a busy schedule in the months ahead with his Terminus debut Thursday, an upcoming DEFY match against prodigy Nick Wayne, several matches during WrestleMania weekend in Dallas and two GCW events in April.
“Swerve” is returning to Game Changer Wrestling this spring.
GCW announced today that Shane Strickland will be making his return to the promotion for two shows in California this April. He’ll be in action at GCW’s event in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 9 and their event in San Francisco on Sunday, April 10.
Additional information regarding the events, including when tickets will be going on sale, will be announced soon. NJPW star Minoru Suzuki will also be in action at both shows.
Strickland was formerly known as Isaiah “Swerve” Scott in WWE. During his time in NXT, Strickland held the NXT North American Championship once.
Shortly after Strickland and his Hit Row stablemates were called up to SmackDown last year, they were released during rounds of roster cuts in November.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote that Strickland is expected to be coming into AEW at some point: “[Tony] Khan has also talked about signing more new talent with Keith Lee signed and Shane Strickland and Jeff Hardy both expected to be coming at some point and other ex-WWE names have been talked with, such as Buddy Matthews.”
Strickland previously wrestled for GCW once in 2016.
The group formerly known as Hit Row are set to reunite at an independent wrestling show next month.
MCW Pro Wrestling has announced that Shane “Swerve” Strickland, AJ Francis, Tehuti Miles, and Briana Brandy will all be appearing at their Spring Fever event on Saturday, March 19. The show is being held at Tall Cedars Hall in Parkville, Maryland.
“The 2022 #MCWSpringFever Tour kicks off on Saturday night March 19th in Parkville, MD with special guests & former #WWE / #NXT Stars formerly known as Hit Row,” MCW Pro Wrestling wrote. “Tickets Are On Sale Now & Going FAST”
The 2022 #MCWSpringFever Tour kicks off on Saturday night March 19th in Parkville, MD with special guests & former #WWE / #NXT Stars formerly known as Hit Row🔥🔥
Strickland was formerly known as Isaiah “Swerve” Scott in WWE, Francis was known as Top Dolla, Miles was known as Ashante “Thee” Adonis, and Brandy was known as B-Fab. The group formed in NXT, with Scott holding the NXT North American Championship once before Hit Row were called up to the main roster.
Hit Row were drafted to SmackDown last October. But shortly after their SmackDown debut, Brandy was released from her contract. The remaining members of Hit Row were then released two weeks later.
Shane ‘Swerve’ Strickland’s first announced match post-WWE will be against Ruby Soho.
Strickland announced the match for Pro Wrestling Revolver’s upcoming Swerve’s House event that will take place at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa on April 16. Tickets will go on sale on January 28th at 8 pm EST on Pro Wrestling Revolver’s website.
This is Swerve’s first announced match since being released from WWE on November 18 along with the rest of the Hit Row stable, Ashante Thee Adonis and Top Dolla. B-Fab, who was also part of the group, was released on November 4. The group had only made their debut on the main roster just weeks prior to their release as part of the 2021 WWE Draft.
Ruby Soho, also released in the last year due to WWE budget cuts, has since signed with AEW and has also made appearances outside of the company. She faced Allie Katch this past weekend at The Wrld on GCW at the Hammerstein Ballroom, picking up the win.
The former Isaiah “Swerve” Scott is headed to Terminus.
Terminus has announced that Shane Strickland will be in action at their show in Atlanta on Thursday, February 24. The show will be the second-ever Terminus event.
Less than a month after making his main roster debut, Strickland was released by WWE on November 18. His Hit Row stablemates Top Dolla and Ashante “Thee” Adonis were also part of that round of roster cuts. Hit Row’s B-Fab was released on November 4.
Strickland is a former NXT North American Champion.
Terminus, which is a new promotion from Jonathan Gresham and Baron Black, debuted with their first event airing live on Fite TV this past Sunday.
It’s also been announced that The Wrestling Revolver will host a “Swerve’s House” event with Strickland in action on Saturday, April 16. That show is taking place at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa.
Shane Strickland is heading back to the independent wrestling scene.
The Wrestling Revolver announced tonight that Shane ‘Swerve’ Strickland was announced for their event that will take place on April 16. No opponent was named. This would mark Strickland’s first announced appearance post-WWE.
Swerve, formerly Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, was released from WWE on November 18 of last year after signing with the company in 2019. Swerve, alongside Top Dolla, Ashante Thee Adonis, and B-Fab formed a stable in NXT called Hit Row. Swerve had won the North American Championship thanks to their help and were called to the main roster in October. However, B-Fab was released on November 4, and the rest of Hit Row were released later that month after only making a handful of appearances on the main roster.
Prior to signing with WWE, Swerve had been a fixture in the independent wrestling scene in such promotions as Combat Zone Wrestling, Lucha Underground (under the name Killshot) and Major League Wrestling.
MLW’s Anthology series hit the streets of New York this week as we saw the Lone Wolf of Brooklyn battling Homicide in his MLW debut from 2004 and then Shane Strickland in 2018 for the MLW world heavyweight title.
Show Review:
Homicide defeated Low Ki (15:24)
Orlando, Florida | January 2004
Low Ki showed his athleticism early on by nipping up before wrapping Homicide up in the ropes with an armbar. They both then had the same idea by going for an arm drag before dodging kicks and coming to a stalemate which got an ovation from the crowd.
Low Ki then hit a crossbody and took control. He hit a nice butterfly suplex and a handspring overhead kick to the back of the head. Homicide fought back after taking one stiff chop too many and flew out the ring with a tope, ending up over the barrier and into the crowd.
Homicide then took over with suplexes of his own and a surfboard submission. He then dropped him on the top of his head with a hurricanrana off the top rope, but Low Ki still kicked out at two. Homicide then missed a diving headbutt and this gave Low Ki the chance to fire up. He hit a barrage of chops, a clothesline, and kicks to the chest followed by soccer kicks to the head. He slipped out of the Cop Killer and hit a rolling kick to the back of Homicide’s head. He then deadlifted Homicide up and planted him on his head with a German suplex, but Homicide got his foot on the rope to break the count.
Homicide caught Low Ki springboarding off the ropes and hit a dragon screw followed by another one off the top rope. He locked on an STF but let go when he thought Low Ki tapped out. Low Ki then slipped out the back and locked in a dragon sleeper but Homicide again got to the ropes.
Low Ki’s leg gave out on a suplex attempt, but he was able to come back with a kick to the head. Homicide fought back with a big clothesline, but Low Ki again slipped out of the Cop Killer but struggled to lock in the dragon sleeper once again. Homicide fought and fought and in the scramble, he was able to roll Low Ki onto his shoulders just long enough for the ref to count to three and get the win.
Jerry Lynn jumped Homicide after the match, but Low Ki saved his teacher from a beatdown which brought out Gary Hart. He instructed both Homicide and Low Ki to make an example of Lynn. They pummelled him and put the boots to him before a fan started badmouthing Hart at ringside, so he instructed Low Ki to confront him. Hart had a mystery man with him and he was (maybe strategically) blocking the camera’s view of Low Ki and the fan, but we did see a drink get smashed and then Low Ki trying to drag the fan over the guardrail.
Chaos ensued as Homicide also got involved. The fan tried to run, but Low Ki chased him and clobbered him with a right hand. A security guard tried to shield the fan but it took road agents and staff (including Court Bauer) to separate them. Hart was still on the mic and got in Bauer’s face, but the MLW founder was blindsided by Homicide and shoved to the ground. Hart sarcastically thanked Bauer for bringing him to MLW and promised to end Terry Funk’s career the next night. The situation looked to be calmed, but as Bauer was getting to his knees, he was hit over the head with a broomstick by Homicide.
— We saw a video package that helped introduce the next match, showing Low Ki in his “professional” persona being hired by Salina de la Renta to take out Shane Strickland.
Low Ki defeated Shane “Swerve” Strickland to win the MLW World Championship (13:19)
Orlando, Florida | July 2018
Ki’s title win came after a stiff and exciting match against the current NXT standout now known as Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. Sitting at ringside, alongside our JJ Williams, was Salina de la Renta who had put a $60,000 bounty on the champion’s head and hired Low Ki to take the title from him.
Strickland tried an armbar very early, but Low Ki was able to get to the ropes. Ki began chopping Strickland and that continued throughout the title fight. Low Ki beat him down early on, looking for the knockout with stiff kicks to the chest and one springboard version that knocked Strickland down.
After Low Ki jawjacked with the crowd in the direction of Strickland’s girlfriend, who was in attendance, the champion fired back but Ki was able to roll through and hit a double foot stomp to stay in full control of the contest.
Strickland was able to dump Low Ki to the outside and then hit a superkick when he tried to re-enter the ring. Strickland then hit a handstand flip over the top rope into a hurricanrana at ringside. Back inside, he hit a big overhead release belly-to-back suplex but only got a two count. Low Ki then took a powerbomb and a catapult, but stopped himself on the middle rope. While Strickland was on his back from delivering the move, Low Ki launched off and hit another double foot stomp, this time from the middle rope.
Strickland had another flurry of kicks, but was favoring his right knee. He eventually hit his rolling cutter, but took his time climbing the ropes due to his injured knee. Low Ki moved and Strickland landed on his feet, but his knee buckled. He then blew a kiss to Strickland’s girlfriend as he lined up a switchblade kick to the back of the head to pick up the pin and the title win to the shock of the crowd.
A video package from back in the early years of MLW ran featuring the trifecta from the first match: Ki, Homicide and the late Gary Hart. Hart was hyping them both up by talking about Ki using his martial arts and Homicide using his street mentality to protect Hart’s legacy.
**********
To close the show, we had this week’s montage of updates featuring current MLW stars. The Blue Meanie was outside the 2300 Arena, Jordan Oliver was drinking in the park, Gino Medina was saying “no comment” to his status with Dynasty, LA Park challenged CONTRA to any match they want, Mance Warner had some words for CONTRA if they think they can tell him what to do, Richard Holliday wants to buy MLW and then sell it for a profit, Savio Vega is going to remove Holliday’s moustache with a sidekick, Tom Lawlor and Dominic Garrini were talking online dating profiles, Konnan called out Josef Samael for ruining the end of the MLW/AAA Super Series, Myron Reed explained what Injustice means to him, the Von Erichs talked about the true meaning of champions, and Alexander Hammerstone wants to win the heavyweight title.
LA Park finished the montage but at the end of his challenge to CONTRA, he was blindsided and attacked by someone just off camera. CONTRA then interrupted the feed and Samael gave a warning to MLW saying that the infidels are rising.
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott (Shane Strickland) will be making an appearance on Tuesday’s episode of 205 Live.
WWE has announced that Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak will face Scott in a non-title match on Tuesday (July 23). It’s being billed as a 205 Live vs. NXT main event.
It was confirmed in April that Scott had signed with WWE. He made his televised NXT debut in the Breakout Tournament, losing to Cameron Grimes (Trevor Lee) in a first round match that aired on the July 3 episode of NXT.
Gulak won the Cruiserweight title from Tony Nese at last month’s Stomping Grounds pay-per-view. He then retained against Nese at Extreme Rules.
A contract signing for Mike Kanellis vs. Drake Maverick is also set for Tuesday’s 205 Live. If Kanellis wins, he’ll get a shot at Gulak’s title. WWE hasn’t announced when Kanellis vs. Maverick will be taking place.
The American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida is hosting Tuesday’s SmackDown and 205 Live.
Two more wrestler name changes were made official at NXT’s house show in Largo, Florida on Thursday night.
The former DJZ made his NXT debut and is now going by Joaquin Wilde. He defeated Kona Reeves at the show.
Shane Strickland’s new WWE name is Isaiah Scott. He teamed with Brennan Williams in Largo, with them defeating Brendan Vink & Jermaine Haley.
DJZ reported to the WWE Performance Center in May, while Strickland signing with WWE was officially announced in April.
Five name changes were also confirmed via the Performance Center’s website earlier this week. Trevor Lee is now Cameron Grimes, Jessie Elaban is Jessi Kamea, Eric Bugenhagen is Rik Bugez, Adrian Jaoude is Arturo Ruas, and Luke Menzies is Ridge Holland.
Here are the results from NXT’s show in Largo. The estimated attendance was 400 people:
– Joaquin Wilde defeated Kona Reeves
Wilde made his entrance while wearing his light-up helmet and vest from his time on the independent scene.
– MJ Jenkins defeated Rachael Evers
This match featured Carley Coop as the referee. It seems she’s receiving a tryout this weekend.
– Brennan Williams & Isaiah Scott defeated Brendan Vink & Jermaine Haley (w/ Malcolm Bivens)
For the finish, Williams and Scott used a Doomsday Swerve Stomp with Williams holding Vink up as Scott came off the top.
– Damian Priest defeated Cezar Bononi
Priest is the former Punishment Martinez. He was using the music from his TakeOver vignette.
– NXT Tag Team Champions The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) defeated The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler)
The crowd loved The Street Profits in Largo. They celebrated with the fans after their victory.
Shane Strickland and Garza Jr. are officially WWE bound.
An article on WWE’s website confirmed that Stephon (Shane) Strickland and Humberto Garza (Jr.) are the latest recruits to the Performance Center. Kushida, whose signing was revealed during NXT TakeOver: New York, has also started training at the Performance Center.
Strickland has been an indy standout for some time, most recently working under the WWN umbrella including recent EVOLVE events. In the past, he’s also worked for DEFY, CZW and MLW. He had recently declared himself a free agent after leaving the latter.
Garza Jr. is the nephew of lucha libre and WCW star Hector Garza and the cousin of 205 Live’s Humberto Carrillo. In recent years he has been best known for his run in The Crash, but has also wrestled for AAA, MLW, Pro Wrestling NOAH and the Mexican independent scene.
Kushida is a former NJPW Jr. champion and at one time was considered the ace of the division, winning the championship six times. He left the promotion in January after a losing effort to Hiroshi Tanahashi.
